Leader
Part 1 Stolen 0 and 1

Report
Our time
But,
I will never
at the bottom like this
is being chipped away second by second.
By the system of those at the top, by the slavery they call economics.
It never ends.
Even in this shitty world, I still won't give up.
The city was split in two.
Twenty years after Japan's economic restructuring.
The more bound to the ground you were, the more you sold your time.
The closer to the sky you were, the more freedom you had.
Our workplace was even farther below.
Worker ID
Today's shift: 12 hours
7th-Level Scrap Robot Dismantling Plant
Allowed delay: 0 seconds
Worker authentication complete
Please proceed to your work area
If there's freedom beneath the sky.
Follow the rules. Your life belongs to the company.
Don't look. Don't stand out. Don't get involved.
Facial recognition in progress
30 seconds until work begins
You're late, Takumi.
I was thinking.
Work Area
Tell your excuses to the AI.
They work on people, but not on those things.
Iris scan in progress
Dismantling target: Obsolete security robot
Rare metal recovery rate: down 3.2% from yesterday.
The bolts on its right arm were stuck...
S-Sorry...
Don't look. Don't stand out. Don't get involved.
Work delay detected.
Relevant line flagged for penalty.
Reasons are not recorded.
Only results are evaluated.
Work performance: Below minimum standards
Estimated production loss: -4,772,840 CR annually
Worker suitability: Low Potential for improvement: Low Ease of replacement: High
Deregistration: Approved
If I'm fired, I won't be able to survive.
Please. You're watching from behind that camera, aren't you?
Classified as an act of rebellion.
Immediate dismissal
Leave the premises immediately.
W-What the hell?!
Retraining cost: Unreasonable
IQ score: Low
Work delay: +41 seconds
Estimated line loss: -2,840 CR
Please, I have a wife and daughter.
Worker registration: Deletion in progress
Time allowed to leave: 180 seconds
B
Unattended personal belongings detected
Vacancy filled: Complete
Line efficiency: Restored
They disappear one by one.
Ownership cannot be verified
Reclassified as waste
The people who speak the truth are the first to...
...I didn't see anything.
You saw it with your own eyes.
Don't go showing your sense of justice here.
You'll be the first one crushed.
I know.
Don't look.
The old ones detect temperature before authentication.
I just fooled the cooling line.
To survive.
...What did you do?
Just a little trick.
Chest lock: Not disengaged
Alarm circuit: Standby
Hey, that lock's still on.
If you mess with it, the alarm...
Authenticated
Alarm: Not triggered
............
Work Bonus +550cd
School Return Preparation Account
That's all.
Today, I got a little closer to going back to high school.
550cd
Re-enrollment Procedures
Tuition
Uniform Costs
Commuting Expenses
Transfer Interview
Required Documents
But believing is important.
School Guide Data
But with the repeated demands from above to shorten the deadline,
Even one day,
even one hour.
For me,
my mom and dad
just wanted me to wake up normally in the morning,
Then I'll make up the time.
and live a normal life going to school.
That's all they wanted to leave me.
Late-payment penalty pending
Killed by the system
For your service
Late-payment penalty notice
Death certificate receipt notice
Contract guarantee debt
Leave-of-absence procedure guide
I won't make it.
Target amount
At this rate,
I'm short by three days.
Until the reenrollment application deadline
Shortfall: 3 days
Request to shorten deadline
Current
Shortfall
Projected attainment
Remaining
...I'll go back.
No matter what.
Lunch break: 12 minutes
Reenrollment preparation account
Until the reenrollment application deadline
Your movement range is restricted.
11 minutes 15 seconds remaining until break ends...
I'll disappear from the records.
Worker ID 7A19-02-17
Location confidence: 62%
Nearby tag interference detected
Last posture: Stationary by wall
Status: On break
No abnormalities.
Heat source interference
It's impossible to disable AI surveillance. So I blend into a state where it can't confirm an “abnormality.”
And only for that instant,
By building up a harmless behavior history of staying still by the wall during breaks, I make the AI fill in the usual “Takumi.”
Past boundary: Unclear
Nearby tag interference detected
Assessment: Within normal range
Remaining
Balance
Target amount
ID match: Group noise
Skeletal estimate: Within human form
Heat source detection: Steam interference
Movement prediction: Low-confidence interpolation
Shift the location shown just a little.
Noise Sync: Low Output
Surveillance correction interference in progress
You made it again today.
This guy has sharp eyes.
No. The dog is waiting for you.
Much more than the cameras are.
Please stop.
The camera correction was lax today.
Because you can't survive being ordinary.
Don't erase the logs.
Most people wouldn't notice something like that.
COFFEE BLACK
That kind of thing is a hassle.
It's already noon, though.
Woof!
WAN, good morning.
Woof.
Look, Takumi.
WAN's been waiting for you.
...Yeah, yeah.
He's not waiting for me.
He's just waiting for a recharge.
Hey, hey.
The low-frequency module is misaligned.
At this rate, the vibrations will be too strong.
Adjusting it again?
Move this back a little.
No way, you mean that's...
Jyona Script?
Jyona Script?
You know about it?
Jyona Script is a world-class control language developed by Amaterasis.
Only a handful of engineers can understand it,
and no license has been granted for it.
Amaterasis... That world-leading megacorp?
Official Name: JYONA Strategic Control Script For Quantum AI, Autonomous Control, and Sensor Integration
Amaterasis is a global AI company positioned far upstream of both MEGA CORP SYSTEM, this place's parent company, and LGS LOWER MAINTENANCE (Lowmen), where Nana works.
Can you understand JYONA Script?
It's warm. Even though it's a machine, isn't that strange?
Amaterasis
Massive upstream corporation (the largest upstream corporation)
Intermediate holding company
LIFE GRID SERVICE
LGS-affiliated subsidiary
LGS-affiliated subcontractor
LGS LOWER MAINTENANCE
7th Reorganization Zone Patrol Maintenance Unit
Intermediate holding company
Numerous intermediary companies
MEGA CORP SYSTEM
Affiliate subsidiary
Countless affiliated companies lie in between, forming a pyramid structure with it at the very top. It was originally just an AI company located in central Japan, but
its advanced technology and foresight quickly propelled it to the top of the world.
I'm just piecing together the parts I understand.
That should do it.
Whiiir
Old-model life tag signal: Detected
Emotional stability pattern: Synchronized
A break isn't twelve minutes. It's time to become human again.
Machines aren't cold.
It's just that some people use them coldly.
Intermediate subsidiary
Intermediate subsidiary
Authorized subcontracting facility
7th-Level Southern Abandoned Machine Dismantling Plant
Yeah.
That's only half.
What do you want to do once you go back to school, Takumi?
Today's luxury.
You like ordinary things?
What's wrong with that?
A boy working to buy back an ordinary life.
You've got half, don't you?
Not really.
Bwahahahaha!
Ordinary is the most expensive thing there is.
Just take classes like normal,
Don't put it that way.
For now.
Just graduate like normal.
You can't drink this.
WAN's rooting for you too.
If I can go back, that is.
Go back to school. No matter what.
You don't belong in a place like this.
Go back.
Before you end up like us.
Observation Required
Updating Blind-Spot Candidate Area...
Tick... tick...
What the hell!? The system's been updated...
We're going back right now.
Recognition Correction Delta: 0.03%
See you later.
If it’s not too crowded, on the train home again.
…You noticed.
It’ll definitely be crowded.
Keep it down.
I’ve got a bad feeling about this……………
Nana, get out of here now.
Go back to Roamen.
If they find you, it’s over.
30 seconds until the end of break.
Woof…
…Woof.
18 seconds remaining until the end of break.
Notice to all workers.
Notice to all workers.
…That’s a bad sound.
Notice to all workers. Notice to all workers.
MEGA CORP SYSTEM Affiliated Facility Notice
A loss has occurred in the upper-level payment system.
What⁉
The upper-level system… has nothing to do with us, right…?
Loss compensation will be redistributed equally among lower-level affiliated workers in accordance with Contract Article 204.
……What?
MEGA CORP SYSTEM Affiliated Facility Notice
Cause: Error in upper-level system projections.
Loss
Loss Compensation Collection Processing under Contract Article 204
School Return Preparation Account Balance
Collection complete Balance　0cd

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